King's Honour
by LittleMissBrit
Summary: Spoliers for 5x05. Gwen is concerned that Arthur is spending too much time with Mordred and sets out to put it right.


**Disclaimer: DISCLAIMED**

**King's Honour**

Gwen watched as Arthur laughed with Mordred, the other knights sculling in the background, looking a little downtrodden. Merlin was with them, but his usual antics were not exactly cheering them up.

What was the problem?

Oh yes, her husband.

The queen understood that the young man was the epitome of the perfect knight- loyal, a great fighter, eager to fault. However, she felt that Arthur was giving him too much praise, all whilst not noticing the problems of his friend. Had he inquired about Percival's cold that had been plaguing him? Had he asked Leon about his injured leg? Probably, but it would have probably been to be polite. Mordred had his faults, but Arthur was seemingly overlooking them. She may have been exaggerating, but there was a slight truth in the matter.

Practice was called over and Gwen tore herself from the window. The sky was turning grey and it would be not belong before the rain came down, so she decided that it would be time to take her daily walk before she got drenched. Not long ago, she had decided to take a walk every day, in different areas in order to learn even more about her people. Yesterday, she'd had a nice conversation with one of the gardeners yesterday. Today was the day to not stray too far away from the castle due to weather conditions, so she decided that the main courtyard would be a good setting for her stroll.

As she floated down the corridors, the people stopped what they were doing and bowed their heads, continually watching her. Even though she had been queen for three years, the residents of Camelot still watched her with a certain eagerness. Arthur never got this treatment, but this was in account of the fact that he had been a royal for over twenty years, always in the public eye.

"Hey, it's the old queenie! Afternoon Gwen."

She rolled her eyes at the sight of Gwaine and Percival striding towards her.

"I am the queen and it is either 'my lady' or 'your majesty' to you, Gwaine," her eyes twinkled in a joking manner.

"But it is Sir Gwaine to you, _my lady," _he emphasised the last words.

"So how are you today?"

"A little annoyed at your male counterpart, that is for sure."

Gwen sighed.

"What has he done this time?"

"He promised that he'd go on a hunt with us," Percival spoke directly to her, which was quite a rarity in itself, "But of course, he dropped out to spend time with Mordred. He said something about private training, which he never gives anyone. He just pushes us to work hard without help."

She frowned, "He did that?"

"Yes," Gwaine replied, "We do not actually mind him hanging out with our newest buddy, but this is getting ridiculous."

"Maybe it's just a faze," Gwen decided to be reasonable.

"Faze or not, it's getting on my nerves," the dark-haired knight shrugged, "Listen, we've got to get going. If we get you some deer, will you please not give it to Arthur?"

"I won't," she laughed, knowing perfectly well that she would do the contrary.

Muttering their goodbyes, they continued on their way, as she did. The sky seemed to be clearing up a little, which was quite good in her opinion. Skipping down the steps with a natural ease, she spotted her husband and his prodigy talking animatedly, not at all looking like any serious fighting was going down. She contemplated going over for a moment, but the thought passed.

Unfortunately for her, Arthur's eyesight was probably one of the best in the kingdom.

"Guinevere!" he called happily. She wandered over, smiling at two children playing kiss-chase as their parents cooed behind them.

"Good afternoon Arthur," she smiled at her husband, "Sir Mordred."

"My lady," he bowed his head.

"I ran into Gwaine and Percival on the way here. They told me that you two were training together, but it does not exactly look like it."

Arthur looked a bit guilty as she said that.

"Well, some of the younger knights made a mess of the training ground so Merlin and some other servants are clearing it for us before we begin."

"It is the best place to practice, your majesty," Mordred told her, "You see, we do not want to disrupt the people's activities."

Gwen bit her lip in order to avoid saying something she would later regret. Arthur sensed her discomfort and turned to his male companion.

"Could you please excuse us for a moment, Mordred?"

"My lord, my lady," the dark-haired teenager nodded before spinning on his heel, heading in the direction of a pretty flower-seller.

Waiting until he was gone, Arthur turned to his wife.

"What is the matter Guinevere?" he asked her in a soothing tone, playing with a strand of hair hanging loosely down her face.

"You cancelled your hunt with your knights in order to give 'private training.' You have never done that with anyone. I understand that you think Mordred has a lot of potential, but you cannot go on abandoning your friends like this! Mordred is a fine young man but if you keep molly-coddling him as you do, he will not stand a chance in battle!"

Arthur's expression was exactly the same as the time she had told him off in her home, long ago just before they had kissed for the very first time.

"They miss you, Arthur! I have no problem with you being nice to the knight, but you are rejecting your friends. Did you know that Leon injured his leg when his horse bolted? Percival has a cold but the medicine is meddling with his immune system?"

"I actually did and I let Leon sit out during training in order to stop resting. I wanted him to stay away altogether, but he is rather persistent."

Gwen smiled slightly.

"Anyway, I do not mollycoddle any of my knights, most especially the new ones! I never have and I never will! Also, I am not ignoring my friends! I have spent time with Mordred on three occasions, and that is all! He requested the training because he is worried about his counter-attacks!"

"But you could have done it at a time convenient for you, when you are not already busy!"

Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Guinevere, I think I would know how to control my knights."

"Yes, but you do not know how to control what you are doing."

Arthur sighed, sensing that it was not the right time to get into an argument with his head-strong wife. It was time to admit why he was doing this.

"Do you really want to know why I am being like this to Mordred?

Gwen nodded enthusiastically.

"I feel guilty for risking his life to prevent magic," he admitted with a certain amount of shame in his voice, "If he would have died, that would have gone down as one of the worst things I have ever done, including banishing you Guinevere."

Filled with sympathy, she stroked his cheek lovingly. He filled quite sorry for him- Arthur was one of those people who carried guilt with him like a rucksack.

"Just don't abandon your friends in the process," Gwen grimaced.

"I won't," Arthur wrapped his arms around her suddenly, "You are right to be honest with me Guinevere and that is one of the reasons I love you."

"You said that a few weeks ago!" she admonished him.

He shrugged as he kissed her forehead.

"Dinner together tonight?" he asked.

Gwen nodded, "That sounds great. But on one condition."

"Anything."

"We have the invite the knights and Merlin to eat with us. That can include Mordred- I want him to get to know the peers."

Arthur groaned.

"Merlin?! My manservant?"

"Yes, your manservant. They are one in the same," Gwen shot back, "Okay?"

"Fine," Arthur sighed in defeat.

"YES! DINNER WITH THE ROYALS!"

The couple whirled around, but their most mischievous knight could not be seen anywhere.

"Now you've condemned me to the worst death possible: death by Gwaine."

Gwen beamed.

Order had been restored.

**Heya, it's me! I'm sorry if this is crap, but I really couldn't think of any Arwen to write for the episode. Hopefully this is okay.**

**Now, time for opinions:**

**The episode, in my opinion, was brilliant. I'm talking about the writing and acting- Colin Morgan was so excellent it was untrue!**

**However, I am of the opinion that Merlin made the wrong decision. He should have got magic legalised and then just killed him off later on. I am aware of the fact he thought that too so I hope it isn't too wild a guess.**

**Not enough Arwen- just a loving stroke and that was kinda it.**

**Next week's promo makes it look better than the synopsis did! It really looks like a great ep-looking forward to the Gwen-Morgana interaction! I think that can be the Arwen episode of the series- I sincerely hope that Arthur doesn't go all crazy, but the right protective level. I like that he always takes the same knights, like his little friendship group. Cute. **

**Thank you so much for reading! Please review!**

**Semper Fi xxx**


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